Today’s Top Stories
1. The IDF struck several Syrian army positions in retaliation for a drone infiltration yesterday afternoon. The drone, which the IDF said appeared to be an unarmed Syrian reconnaissance aircraft, was shot down about 10 km inside Israel by a Patriot missile.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
2. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where the two discussed Syria. Take your pick of Jerusalem Post or Haaretz coverage.
Meanwhile, US Senator Lindsey Graham urged Israel not to cut any deals with Moscow at Washington’s expense. Backstory on that i24 News. Netanyahu responded, saying he coordinated with the US.
3. As expected, the Irish Senate approved legislation that would criminalize the import and sale of products and services from West Bank settlements. The Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill now moves to parliament’s lower house. The Irish Times (click via Google News) reports that the US State Department lobbied Fianna Fail, Ireland’s leading opposition party, not to support the bill.
Questioned by the Jerusalem Post, Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel Alison Kelly said the minority government was against the bill, but Israeli settlement activity makes opposition to the legislation difficult.
I liked Eugene Kontorovich’s Twitter thread in response.
4. What is HonestReporting? Check out our new YouTube trailer telling new visitors who we are and what we do.
Israel and the Palestinians
• A Jerusalem judge issued a temporary confiscation order for a pair of Norwegian ships due to participate in a flotilla to symbolically break the blockade of Gaza, reports Ynet. Till now, intercepted ships were towed to Ashdod and then subsequently released.
The court order allows for the Karstein and Freedom, worth approximately 75,000 euros, to be used for monetary compensation for victims of Hamas terrorism the moment they enter Israeli waters.
• Congressional Democrats demand ‘transparency’ over Trump administration’s review of US aid to Palestinians.
Acknowledging the need to ensure that no tax-payer money “is diverted from its intended purposes, or even worse, inadvertently benefiting the terrorist organization Hamas,” the Democratic lawmakers expressed concern that depriving US funds from the Palestinians could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
• Worth watching: Yael Raz-Lachvani of Kibbutz Nachal Oz discusses Palestinian terror kites with the BBC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcy_xT-kROE
• Along the Gaza border yesterday, an IDF drone opened fire near a group of Palestinians preparing incendiary balloons. The Times of Israel also reports, “In a separate incident, also east of Rafah, Israeli soldiers shot and detained a Palestinian youth who the army said tried to breach the Gaza security fence with a pair of wire-cutters and a bottle full of a flammable liquid.”
• State-owned TV New Zealand apologize and admitted botching its in coverage of Gaza riots. TVNZ mistakenly reported that Israel had killed “hundreds” of Palestinians. As the Israel Institute of New Zealand of pointed out, “the UN has reported 131 Palestinian deaths. And approximately 80% of the casualties have been identified as terrorists.”
• The Independent has a new Mideast and North Africa correspondent, and she’s off to a nice start. Bel Trew, who I believe is based in Cairo, filed this nice dispatch from Gaza after meeting with some goons from the Resistance Brigades of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
It’s encouraging that The Independent finally has a Mideast correspondent who can openly travel and report in Israel. Beirut-based journalists like correspondent Bethan McKernan file plenty of reports about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without ever seeing it for themselves because Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah are very suspicious of things like Israeli datelines, passport stamps, receipts, etc.
• Worth reading: The Christian Science Monitor visited the Israel-Syria border to learn more about the evolving status quo between the two countries. See more dispatches from the border at the Jerusalem Post and Reuters.
Window Into Israel
• Police arrested four suspects over the kidnapping of an Israel-Arab boy. Footage released by the police shows seven-year-old Karim Jumhour being abducted from the entrance to his home in the village of Kalansua, in central Israel. As this roundup was published, police were still searching for Jumhour. According to Israeli media reports, “the kidnapping is believed to have been carried out by a crime family over unpaid debts.”
• Teen suspect in Duma terror trial released to house arrest.
Around the World
British Jews are furious with Labour and Jeremy Corbyn over the party’s recently adopted definition of antisemitism. The party, in essence, took the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and edited out the references to Israel and how certain criticisms of the Jewish state can be antisemitic. The IHRA’s full definition of antisemitism was adopted by adopted by Britain in 2016.
• New Labour antisemitism row as Jeremy Corbyn promotes MP who once called for moving Israel to the US.
• With an eye towards re-establishing “universal jurisdiction,” Spain is re-examining policy that would allow it to put on trial Israeli officials accused of war crimes.
• Argentina asked Russia to arrest an Iranian official linked to the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community headquarters in Buenos Aires. The attack killed 85 people and injured more than 300. Alí Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been implicated in the attack.
Fun fact from Moscow: Ali Akbar Velayati, the Iranian official sent to meet with Putin on Syria, faces an international warrant for ordering the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires. Argentina today asked Russia to arrest him & turn him over. No answer as yet https://t.co/njlrHkNl6R
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) July 11, 2018
• California State Assembly candidate accuses Israel of genocide and offers support for Louis Farrakhan
• Norwegian hospitals refuse to assist in circumcisions.
• Greek Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki vandalized for second time in two weeks.
Commentary
• Here’s what else I’m reading today:
– Amos Harel: Israel’s ultimate consideration in shooting down Syrian drone
– Herb Keinon: The message in the Netanyahu-Putin meeting
– Oded Granot: Iran not going anywhere from Syria
– Ben-Dror Yemini: Don’t worry, they are only flying kites
– Karl du Fresne: Israel’s continuing existence a remarkable feat of survival
Featured image: CC0 Pexels; Ireland CC0 Pixabay; Corbyn via YouTube/ITV News;
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.
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